Make a tax deductible donation

Make a donation for our youth education programs All donations are tax deductible Now is the time to help support the Phoenix Film Foundation's youth education programs. We are at 75% of our goal and can use your support to help us meet our goal for the 2013 event. Here's a description of the programs and what your support means. Click here to make a donation online or call 602-955-6444 Kids' Day: Kids' Day is a special event that takes place on Saturday of the Phoenix Film Festival. Kids' Day is geared towards children from ages 5 to 12 and features hands-on film activities. The kids learn how green screens work, special effects are edited, sound effects are created and many other fun film stuff. Then they get to see a family film of their choice.There is no other film festival in the country offering this program to children and this is your chance to support it. Your donations support handout materials, a USB drive that they get to take home and film programming. Student Educational Outreach: This program is also unique to the Phoenix Film Festival. Middle school and high school students have the opportunity to participate in four day-long film workshops. The first day, they participate in panel discussions with filmmakers that are attending the film festival from around the world. The filmmakers talk about how they get involved in film and how they've completed their projects. On day two, the students learn about screenwriting. With the help of mentors they create a short film script. Then on day three, the focus is on acting for film with casting directors and professional actors sharing their experiences and the students participating in exercises. On the fourth and final day, the students produce a short film using a script created on the screenplay day. The students will break out into crews and assist in the production.This program has been in existence for nine years and is one of our favorite programs. Your donations assist us in providing guest speakers, creating handouts and having equipment on hand for the students to use. Arizona Student Film Festival: The Arizona Student Film Festival is a showcase of films exclusively from Arizona students. From students in third grade all the way through college, students have the opportunity to see their work up on the big screen. In addition to short films, students are also given a topic to make a public service announcement about. The films are then screened for the public and awards are handed out.We always look forward to seeing what the next generation of filmmakers are creating. Your donations help support printing materials, the event program and prizes for the winning filmmakers. Click here to make a donation online or call 602-955-6444

PHX Film News 12/14/12

PHX Film News December 14, 2012It's Hobbit Week and the big film opens today. There's a couple of other gems worth a look as well.... Spotlight Movie of the Week - Hyde Park on HudsonOpening in theaters this week is Hyde Park on the Hudson, starring a stellar ensemble cast of Bill Murray, Laura Linney, Olivia Williams, Samuel West and Olivia Coleman. With the 2013 Golden Globe Nominations released this week, one thing on viewers minds will be if Bill Murray walk away with an award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his portrayal of the 32nd president. You can see this one at Harkins Camelview and you can check out our review here. Other new releases - The Hobbit and The Central Park FiveThe Hobbit is this week's big release. Tolkien fans should be overjoyed; the long awaited prequel to the Academy Award winning Lord of the Rings Saga is finally here. There have been advances in filmmaking technology since the first Lord of the Rings film was release, so audiences will now be able to experience a more life like viewing of the film, thanks to 48 frames per second projection rate and in 3D. Thank you Peter Jackson & digital projection. Now here's what we thought. Also opening is The Central Park Five. n 1989, five black and Latino teenagers were arrested and charged for brutally attacking and raping a white female jogger in Central Park. News media swarmed the case, calling it "the crime of the century." But the truth about what really happened didn't become clear until after the five had spent years in prison for a crime they didn't commit. You can catch this one exclusively at Harkins Shea 14. Saturday is your chance to check out the holiday classic, A Christmas Story at select Harkins Theatres. Click here to find a theatre near you. Yojimbo at Film BarFor you classic film fans, here's a cool film that is playing at Film Bar this weekend. Yojimbo Synopsis: The incomparable Toshiro Mifune stars in Akira Kurosawa’s visually stunning and darkly comic Yojimbo. To rid a terror-stricken village of corruption, wily masterless samurai Sanjuro turns a range war between two evil clans to his own advantage. Remade twice, by Sergio Leone and Walter Hill, this exhilarating genre-twister remains one of the most influential and entertaining films of all time. Click here for more information In the news - Phoenix Film Festival passes at a great priceWe're down to the last couple of weeks of Early Bird Pricing for Phoenix Film Festival passes. Now's the time to save 25% and get your holiday shopping done. Click here to purchases passes

PHX Film News for December 7, 2012

PHX Film News December 7, 2012 Another slow week for new releases, but not to worry things will pick up next week. There are a few smaller releases this week worth a look and also some holiday fun. So lets begin.... Pic of the week - Elf and Christmas VacationA couple of new Christmas classics have upcoming screenings at Harkins which gives you a chance to see them on the big screen.First up is Elf starring Will Farrell, Zooey Deschanel and James Caan. This comedy will be playing at select Harkins theatres tomorrow (December 8) at 10am. Click here for information on theatres Then on Tuesday, you can catch Chevy Chase and the rest of the Griswold family in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. This one screens at 7pm on Tuesday, December 11th at select Harkins Theatres. Click here for details Plus there's a cool Christmas event tonight at the Phoenix Art Museum. More info about that below. Other new releasesFirst up is Waiting for Lightning, which is the story of Danny Way, a young boy from a broken home in Vista, CA, whose passion for skateboarding would one day bring him and his creation, a ramp of prodigious and dangerous proportions, across many cultural and ideological boundaries to attempt the impossible: jump China's Great Wall on a skateboard. It's playing at Harkins Valley Art. Click here to read a Q&A with the director.Our token review this week is for Playing for Keeps which stars Gerard Butler. It's the only new wide release movie this week and here's what we thought.. Also opening this weekend are Matchmaker, Lay the Favorite, and Sister. Tonight - A Very Merry Sci-Fi Christmas ShowGood holiday fun tonight at the Phoenix Art Museum.Dr. Diabolic and Nerd Nite Phoenix will present a Christmas Holiday Show on December 7th at 7pm, during First Friday in Phoenix Art Museum's Whiteman Hall. The show will feature highlights from the Star Wars Holiday Special, a Darth Santa & Mandalorian Merc Christmas Photo booth and presentation from Star Wars aficionado guest speaker Dustin Diehl. Museum admission is complimentary; tickets to the variety show are $5 and will be available at the entrance to Whiteman Hall and online. New Toys are also being collected for a Charity Toy Drive. The event is all ages and is presented with support from Bookmans Entertainment Exchange. The complimentary Christmas Photo booth will be available for patrons to strike a pose with Darth Santa and the Bounty Hunter Elves from the Mandalorian Mercs Shonare Vhekaldla Clan beginning at 6pm. Click here for tickets and more information Get Phoenix Film Festival passes at a 25% savingsDon't forget that you can still pick up passes to the 2013 Phoenix Film Festival at a 25% discount. They make great gifts and they'll just be available at these prices through the end of the year.Click here to get your passes

PHX Film News for 11/30/12

PHX Film News November 30, 2012 It's time for the peace and quiet of the week after Thanksgiving. After so many big releases over the last few weeks, it's a relatively slow week for releases. We've got one review and a few releases to talk about. Then we'll take care of some housekeeping issues for the PFF.... Spotlight Movie of the Week - Killing Them Softly  Killing Them Softly is the one film reviewed this week and probably the new release that will get the most attention. The film stars Brad Pitt and some great character actors like Richard Jenkins and James Gandolfini. I'm guessing many of you were sold when we said "Brad Pitt". This one picked up the 2012 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or nomination and is based on the novel “Cogan’s Trade” by George V. Higgins, We took a look at this film and here's what we thought. Other new releases  With a quiet week of new movies, you may want play catch up and check out Silver Linings Playbook, Life of Pi or Lincoln. If you've seen all those, you do have a few options.... First up, you can take the family to see the live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Or sneak out and see it yourself. It's playing at select Harkins tomorrow morning at 10am. They've got a few other choice holiday classics playing this month and we'll keep you up to date. Speaking of Harkins, they've got three exclusives opening this week. The Comedy, Dragon and Starlet are opening this week and all have received respectable reviews over atAZ Central Finally, you horror fans that have been neglected for a month, you finally get a new release. The Collectiondebuts this weekend. Do you like us? Do you really like us?  In addition to this brilliant weekly newsletter, another way to keep up with the Phoenix Film Festival and the hijinks of Camerahead is to check us out on Facebook. We post info on special events, movie news and inside info about the Phoenix Film Festival. Click here to visit us on Facebook and then click "Like" to get our updates. Your Top 5 Movies of the Year  It's time to start thinking about your top 5 movies of the year. Right around Christmas, we'll be narrowing it down to 30 films for you. Then you'll have to chance to pick your favorite five films from that group. We'll compile all the votes and then announce our very first PHX Film Top 10. So put your thinking caps on and start working on your list.

PHX Film News for 11/21/12

PHX Film News November 21, 2012Welcome to the special Thanksgiving edition of PHX Film News. Since the majority of new releases are released on Wednesday this week, we're bringing you our newsletter a couple of days early. Happy Thanksgiving! Spotlight Pic of the week - Silver Linings PlaybookWith a few film festival awards under its belt, Silver Lining Playbook looks like it may have a head start going into the awards season. Based on the novel by Matthew Quick, David O. Russell assembled a brilliant, interesting cast to bring the quirky, endearing novel to life. The film stars Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Julia Stiles, Jacki Weaver, Anupam Kher, John Ortiz and Chris Tucker. We've got a couple of reviews of this one. First up is the PFF's Lisa Minzey.  Next up is guest critic, Colin Boyd Lots of new releases, lots of reviewsLets lead off this week's reviews with the Friday release,Hitchcock. The film about the legendary filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock stars Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren. You can see it starting Friday, exclusively at Harkins Camelview. In the meantime, read our review here. Our next review is the latest from director Ang Lee and he's wowing audiences with Life of Pi. This movie is so big we reviewed it twice. First up is our own, Lisa Minzey's review here followed by guest reviewer, Eric Forthunn's review here. Wolverines!!! That's right, we saw the remake of Red Dawn.We just couldn't wait to see what happened with the new version.Here's what we thought. You thought we were kidding about lots of reviews. We also took a look at Anna Karenina starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law. Here's our take on this one. But wait there's also the animated film, Rise of the Guardians. Lots of star power in the voice department of this movie. What did we think? We tell you here. We didn't review it but Brooklyn Castle also opens on Friday at Harkins Camelview. It tells the stories of five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school that has won more national championships than any other in the country. Enjoy this week's movie feast! PFF Passes on sale at Early Bird PricingIt's never to early to start thinking about the 2013 Phoenix Film Festival. We really can't think of a better holiday gift than passes to the Phoenix Film Festival. The cool part is that if you buy them now, you save 25%. We'll be running this special pricing through the end of the year, so get your passes now. Also, if you'd like to stop by our office after your purchase we can throw in a special gift to go along with the passes you purchase. Click here to purchase or call 602-955-6444 In the news - Interview with Matthew QuickWhen a High School English teacher decides to peruse his dream of becoming a novelist, never in his wildest dreams did he anticipate that he would be touring the country doing publicity for a Holiday release film for his first novel, “Silver Linings Playbook” starring A-List celebrities Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Nor did he expect to have a brilliant name such as David O. Russell behind the camera bringing his pages to life. Read more in part one of our interview with Matthew Quick, the novelist behind Silver Linings Playbook.

PHX Film News for 11/16/12

PHX Film News November 16, 2012 Spotlight Pic of the week - LincolnHow could we not bring up the latest from Spielberg? When you've got the beloved director working with Daniel Day-Lewis, it's definitely worth talking about.The film features an all-star cast including Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, Sally Field, Joseph Gordon Levitt, David Strathairn, James Spader and Lee Pace among others.The reviews so far have been generally positive with the film not totally meeting everyone's high expectations. Because of the film's magnitude, we bring you two reviews. First up our very own Lisa Minzey gives her take on it, Here And then our guest critic, Colin Boyd gives us this thoughts,Here Other new releases - A Royal Affair and Twilight lead the rest of the releasesWhile Lincoln and Twilight are getting the most press this week, there's a little film that's picking up all kinds of great reviews. A Royal Affair was named this week's Phoenix Film Critics Society movie of the week has received great reviews nationally that you can read about here.We also had a chance to see the film and you can click here to read our reviewSelling lots of tickets as we write is The Twilight Saga:Breaking Dawn - Part 2. We won't shock anyone when we say this film won't be winning any Oscars, but people love the series which ends with this film. We had a chance to see it and we've got a review chock full of spoilers. You've been warned. Click here to read on This week is not just about presidents, Denmark and vampires. There are a few other releases out. You've got La Rafle, This Must Be the Place and Harkins is also doing a retro Hitchcock series this week at Valley Art. (read more below about this) Not quite as retro, but also fun will be the screenings ofPlanes, Trains and Automobiles at Harkins. Click here to find out where it's screening on 11/20. Upcoming film events - Film Festival passes to go on saleMark your calendars now for the 2013 Phoenix Film Festival. The 2013 festival runs from April 4th to 11th and you'll want to block out time to enjoy the film event of the year.Next week, you'll be able to purchase passes at a 25% discount for a limited time. It's a great way to save some money plus festival passes make great gifts. So you've already got an idea for the movie lover in your life. In the news - See Hitchcock Classics at Harkins Valley ArtFor one week only, Harkins Theatres presents some of Alfred Hitchcock’s most celebrated films exclusively at Harkins Valley Art Theatre. Beginning Friday, November 16, Hitchcock fans can relive the intensity of Rear Window, Vertigo and Psycho on the big screen.All three films will show each day throughout the run, in anticipation of the new feature film, Hitchcock, opening Friday, November 23 exclusively at Harkins Camelview 5 Theatres.Click here for more info

Thank you for celebrating the Art of Film with the Phoenix Film Festival

Thanks to everyone who came out to support this special event that raised funds for the educational programs of the Phoenix Film Festival. A special thank you to Cox and Tommy Bahama for their support of this event. We hope to make this an annual event and we're looking forward to the 2013 Phoenix Film Festival.

The Art of Film presented by Cox

Wednesday, November 14th - 6pm to 8pm

Tommy Bahama Restaurant and Bar

15205 N Kierland Blvd

Scottsdale, AZ 85254

Join the Phoenix Film Festival for a celebration of  The Art of Film at Tommy Bahama at the Kierland Commons. The evening will feature food and drink, music, a raffle, silent auction, networking and the reveal of the 2013 Phoenix Film Festival posters.

Tickets are just $20 per person and just $15 for members of the Phoenix Film Society and IFP-Phoenix. All proceeds benefit the student education programs of the Phoenix Film Foundation.

Your ticket price includes:

•  A welcome beverage
• Appetizers
• Entertainment from Micah Beverly
• A complimentary raffle ticket
• An exclusive first look at the 2013 Phoenix Film Festival posters
• An opportunity to purchase Phoenix Film Festival passes at a 30% discount

Click here for tickets

We're looking for volunteers to join the leadership of our marketing team

Join the PFF Team!

The Phoenix Film Festival and IFP-Phoenix are looking for several people to join our Marketing Team in leadership roles. As part of our marketing staff, you'll be essential in spreading word about the Phoenix Film Festival, IFP-Phoenix and other events. We have several opportunities for you to get involved.  Please see below for more information on the various opportunities.

Event Managers

Represent the Phoenix Film Festival at all promotional events and assist with promotion planning. Friendliness, enthusiasm, flexibility, and reliability are critical. You'll also be coordinating volunteers and interns. 40 hour commitment prior to festival, 32 of which will be on-site at events.

Outreach Manager

Research potential co-marketing partnerships with non-sponsor local businesses. Candidates should be able to identify opportunities with maximum outreach potential. Comfortable cold calling. Good "people" skills.

Online Content Manager 

Assist in managing all online communication platforms (blog, social media, newsletter, etc.).  Copywriting and social media experience is huge for this one.

Distribution Manager

Coordinate dropping of flyers/postcards/etc. at local businesses. Help build 2013 business distribution list.  You'll be managing volunteers and interns in this position. Must have transportation.

If any of these positions interest you, please contact Jason Carney at 602-955-6444 or via email at Jason@phxfilm.com